Cartridge belt



Patented Dec. 9, 1941 CARTRIDGE BELT Filser D. Hoppert, William R. Bull, and Clarence E. Simpson, Springield, Mass.

Application December 12, 1940, Serial No. 369,832

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) Claims.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

The subject of this invention is a cartridge belt.

For the purpose of instruction it is customary to adapt guns to re sub-caliber or low pressure ammunition. An adaptation of this character for machine guns is shown in U. S. Patent 2,108,817 of February 22, 1938, in which a standard Browning machine gun designed to fire a .30 caliber cartridge developing high pressure, is arranged to nre a .22 caliber cartridge developing low pressure. The converted gun employs a holder somewhat similar in shape and size to the case of a caliber .30 cartridge, the holder being adapted to carry a caliber .22 cartridge for which it serves as a firing tube, and which is fed, extracted and ejected in the conventional manner.

The purpose of this invention is to provide for loading of the holders in a standard web cartridge belt and to this end each pocket of the belt carries a metallic adapter, the adapters being secured in pairs by means of clips.

The specific nature4 of the invention as well as other objects and advantages thereof will clearly appear from a description of a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view, with parts broken away, of a partially loaded belt;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through one of the pockets of the belt with an adapter, and

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of an adapter.

Referring to the drawing by characters of reference, there is shown a standard cartridge belt 5 of webbing having a series of adjacent pockets 6 extending laterally across the belt and opening through the side edges thereof. Adjacent one end of the belt the pockets are contracted as at 'I to snugly t the tapered and contracted neck of the standard cartridge case.

An adapter provided for each of the pockets of the belt comprises a socket member including a tubular body 8 and a solid head 9. The body is made resilient by providing it with a plurality of slits I0 extending to the solid head. At the junction of the body and head the outer wall is formed with a tapered neck I I which corresponds to the neck of a standard cartridge case.

The head of the adapter is formed externally with an axially projecting reduced crown I2 having an annular groove I3. A pair of adjacent adapters are securely held in place in the belt by means of a clip I4 of a type used with link chains and engaging in the grooves I3. The clip has an elongated opening I5 and is split at one end as at I6 so that it may be readily snapped into place.

When the adapter is fully home in a pocket of the belt its rear or open end extends slightly beyond the edge of the belt and engages a tapered neck II on the holder I8. The holder is inserted in the body until its front edge engages an internal annular shoulder I9 formed therein.

The holders are firmly held in place by the resiliency of the split body 8 but are capable of being extracted therefrom by the mechanism of the gun. When the belt is empty the adapters or socket members are retained therein by the clips I4.

We claim:

l. In combination with a cartridge belt having pockets with contracted portions, an adapter for each pocket comprising a tubular split body having an internal annular shoulder, a solid head at one end of the body, a crown on the head having an annular groove and projecting from the belt, a clip connecting each pair of adjoining adapters and engaging the grooves of the crowns, and each adapter having a tapered neck for engaging the contracted portion of a pocket.

2. In combination with a cartridge belt having pockets, an adapter for each pocket comprising a tubular split body having an internal annular shoulder, a solid head at one end of the body, a crown on the head having an annular groove and projecting from. the belt, a clip connecting each pair of adjoining adapters and engaging the grooves of the crowns.

3. In combination with a cartridge belt having pockets, an adapter for each pocket comprising a tubular split body, a solid head at one end of the body, a crown on the head having an annular groove and projecting from the belt, a clip connecting each pair of adjoining adapters and engaging the grooves of the crowns.

4. In combination with a cartridge belt having pockets, an adapter for each pocket comprising a tubular body, a head on one end of the body and having a portion projecting from the belt, and a clip connecting each pair of adjoining adapters and engaging the projecting portions of the heads.

5. An adapter for insertion in a cartridge belt and for holding a cartridge element, comprising a resilient tubular body, a solid head on one end of the body, and clip-receiving means on the outer part of the solid head.

FILSER D. HOPPERT. WILLIAM R. BULL. CLARENCE E. SIMPSON. 

